This invention is directed to the field of plant stands in general, while having the specific purpose of vertically supporting plants in a planter.
Indoor gardening is one of the most popular pastimes in the United States. Virtually every home or office has at least one display of container plants, with some homes and offices decorated with sundry plants in every room. There seems to be an infinite variety of plants and flowers used in and out of doors nowdays.
While each species of plant has its indigenous attraction, some plants present a much greater challenge in terms of culture and display than do other species of plants. Proper lighting, soil moisture content, temperature, and soil .sub.p H are crucial for most plants. Moreover, the environment requires attention to how the plant will be displayed. Tall plants, for example, including some of the more exotic plants, such as orchids, are not only difficult to cultivate and grow, but even far more difficult to display. These types of plates are extremely delicate, sensitive to the tough, and their roots must be protected along with the stems, foliage, and blooms.
Tall plants usually require a vertical supporting means. The typical plant owner often uses an ordinary wooden stick for this purpose, inserting the stick deep into the soil of the container and tying the plant thereto, at selected intervals. While such a technique proves to be sufficient in supporting many plants, sticks can and do damage important roots and may also damage foliage if not used with proper caution. Moreover, the use of sticks is also lacking in terms of appearance as well. One alternative to the use of sticks is the use of plant holders composed of materials currently found in some lawn and garden shops. However, these plant holders are only suitable for certain types of plants because their bottom portion must be buried in the soil where, they too, pose a threat to plant roots as do the noted sticks.
The prior art indicates limited recognition of such problems as reflected in U.S. Pat. No. 3,119,585, which issued on Jan. 28, 1984, to H. Austenson. The patentee discloses a Christmas tree support equipped with a base that acts as a retainer for water. Although Austnson's plant support does not penetrate the soil, one must note that the patented support is intended to be used with cut plants where no soil is required. Reisner, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,307,540 and issuing on Dec. 29, 1981, shows a plant holder used to display Christmas trees. The patentee's invention, however, is too large and bulky to support small, yet tall and/or elongated house plants. Additionally, Reisner's holder must penetrate the soil which could incur unwanted root damage.
The plant stem holder of the present invention suffers neither the disadvantage of penetrating the soil with the concomitant root destruction nor is it limited to use with only cut plants.
Accordingly, it is a general object of this invention to provide an upright support stand to hold the stem of a plant and provide principal support at points along the stem, which is above the base of the plant.
Another object of this invention is to provide an upright plant support holder having two spaced stem engagement portions attached to a rigid stanchion and a tripodal base to hold the stand in a vertical position.
Still another object of this invention is to provide a plant support holder that can enhance the support of tall and/or elongated plants by means of a detachably extended and tier-shaped assembly.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide a plant stem holder which may be assembled and disassembled without the use of any tools, and whose tripodal base can be adjustably secured to the inside wall of round or oval planters.
A further object of this invention is to provide an essentially hoolow plant stem holder that also functions as a reservoir for water or water containing the apposite plant nutrients, wherein the liquid is slowly emitted to the plant soil.